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John Stuart Donald

British Indian government official

Layered newspapers, civic records and oral-history reels arranged as chronological evidence
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionFeb 3, 2026
Entity authorityQ6259529
Source-derived summary

Sir John Stuart Donald (1 September 1861 – 1948) served as the Chief Commissioner of the North West Frontier Province of British India from 1913 till 1915.

Early life

Donald was born in Ferozepore, India to parents Alexander John Stuart Donald and Suzanna Britain Hilliard. He received an education at Bishop Cotton School in Shimla.

Career

In 1882, Donald joined the Punjab Provincial Civil Service. During his first seven years, he was engaged in magisterial and executive duties. In 1889 he was appointed an assistant to Sir Robert Sandeman who was opening up communications within the regions of Balochistan, Waziristan and the Punjab. In 1890 Donald was put in charge of the newly opened Gomal Pass in South Waziristan. By autumn of that year, he was attached to the Shirani Field Force of the Zhob Expedition which earned him a "Mention in Despatches" distinction.

In recognition of these services, he was appointed to the Imperial Civil Service. In August 1893, he accompanied Sir H. Mortimer Durand on a mission to Kabul for negotiations with the Emir of Afghanistan on the Afghan-India border dispute.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “John Stuart Donald” is british Indian government official. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through John, Stuart and Donald, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewMost valuable as an event-and-institution map that identifies actors, dates and record creators for deeper historical inquiry. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1861, 1948, 1913, 1915—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1861-09-01. For this dossier, John, Stuart and Donald is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “british Indian government official” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6259529. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1861, 1948, 1913 and 1915.

Critical limits

Official terminology may obscure informal participation, dissent or communities documented only indirectly. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.

Best used for
  • Event chronology
  • Institutional context
  • Locating named record creators
Verify next

Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “John Stuart Donald”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow John Stuart Donald primary sources, John Stuart Donald archive and John research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “John Stuart Donald”?
  2. What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
  3. Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from John Stuart Donald” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.